Digital Branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Program

Walter McInnes

Walter McInnes was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 1931 to Bertha Hazel Andrew and Walter McInnes. He was raised in Colchester, Ontario, a village-type community near Windsor. Walter first came to Alaska in 1949 as a sailor aboard a cruise ship in southeastern Alaska. He attended Central Technical School in Toronto, Canada, where he learned to be a radio operator, and in the 1950s worked in the Canadian Arctic building the mid-Canada and DEW-line radar defense systems. In 1959, Walter came to Alaska to visit his mother and step-father who had moved to Talkeetna from Detroit, Michigan with a group called the "59'ers." In the summer of 1960, he came to Seldovia to work in the canneries to earn money for the family homestead. He later worked as a longshoreman loading and unloading ships at the Seldovia dock. He also worked as a bartender for one year at the Knight Spot bar. Walter McInnes passed away in July 2017.

Walter McInnes was interviewed on August 7, 2008 by Charles Mobley at his home in Seldovia, Alaska. In this first side of a two-sided original tape recording, Walter talks about working on DEW-line construction in Canada, coming to Seldovia, loading freight on and off of ships, and how the community of Seldovia has changed. He talks about how there used to be canneries and how the town has physically changed since the 1964 Alaska Earthquake and the Urban Renwal Program. He also talks about the bars and social life in the early days.

This is a continuation of the interview with Walter McInnes on August 7, 2008 by Charles Mobley at his home in Seldovia, Alaska. In this second side of a two-sided original tape recording, Walter talks about changes in Seldovia after the 1964 Alaska Earthquake including flooding and the physical layout of the community. He also talks about logging and the sawmill, working as a bartender, and a number of old-timers.